September 18th - 25th 2010
Faith Johnson Nowhere (take me with you)

Installation on view: September 18th - 25th
Performances: Sept. 18 & 25, 2-6p
 

Nowhere (take me with you)
This piece explores parallels between the rapture and internalized feelings of social abandonment.

Some Christian sects believe that the rapture will be the apocalyptic moment in which the holy are taken away to paradise while the damned are left behind. Central to this way of thinking is the fear of being one of those left behind…lost in nothingness…and ultimate spiritual, physical, and psychological disconnection.      

The fear of being left behind in the rapture can be reflected in today’s feelings of separation of self from “higher” forms of community, which also have both psychosocial and spiritual ramifications. The impact of this thought pattern often stems from individual experiences that are born out of social dysfunction and later framed as dismissible by society, therefore dismissing those whose experiences reflect differently from the “norm”. The damaging effect is an internalized isolation that interrupts one’s sense of wholeness and connection to community. When that human connection is broken inner erosion occurs. This deep psychological isolation and feelings of nonexistence can be juxtaposed with the idea of the rapture where the “normal community” is separated from the “abnormal”.

My actions will explore the quiet violence of internalized social isolation and the attempts to be become visible….seen….acknowledged…and reconnected (spiritually and physically) through seemingly contradictory gestures of self-annihilation and reaching out.

BIO: Faith Johnson is a video, installation, and performance artist with an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston Massachusetts where she received the Rose Hill Performance Award. Johnson has shown in numerous galleries and festivals throughout the United States and abroad. She has performed works internationally at the Open Festival in China, Navinki Festival in Belarus, Tactile Bosch Gallery in Wales, and is a member of the International Performance Association of Hildesheim, Germany. Johnson has worked as an artist in residence at the Newton School of Theology where she focused on spiritual forms and gestures. Currently Johnson manages an art studio for adults with psychiatric disabilities and has recently taught a performance art course at the School of the Museum of Fine Art.

http://www.faithjohnson.net/